Belkin BG108000-04 Conserve Energy-Saving Surge Strip
by Belkin Inc.
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Our Price: $33.95
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Category: CE
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: Belkin Inc.Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: BG108000-04
Color: White
Product features:
- Surge protector includes remote control to easily turn off power and save energy
- Six switchable and two always-on power outlets
- Built-in cord management; wall-mountable remote control
- Slim, space-saving design
- Backed by lifetime product and $100,000 connected equipment warranty
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Belkin BG108000-04 Conserve Energy-Saving Surge Strip
Customer Review: Removes mental "barriers," promotes energy saving
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the last few years, the Green movement has swept across the United States. While people may be skeptical of the existence of anthropomorphic climate change or of the finiteness of oil, there is no doubt that "going Green" has a degree of motivational leverage in that it saves people and businesses money. Regardless of whether the source of the Green movement's newfound impetus is moral or savings-driven, products like these have seen a steady climb in popularity.
As a recent student of psychology, one important lesson that I've learned, and that you should realize, is that the level of wastefulness in the United States can be attributed to not one source, but millions of tiny sources: the sum of millions of citizens' everyday actions. Influencing these actions on a behavioral level can have a profound effect on, for example, the total power consumption within a town, city, or country.
Here's where products such as the Belkin Conserve Energy Saving Surge Strip play an important role. It's common sense, as well as supported by psychological study, that making energy-saving actions more accessible increases their frequency. Before buying this product, I had to climb under my desk to switch the power switch on my old power switch. On a number of occasions, I didn't want to bother because this is a pain, especially when I'm in a rush. Sounds silly, right? A mere two seconds and a few calories burned were "too much," leading to an aversion that stopped me from turning off the strip.
The Belkin Energy Saving Surge Strip makes it easy, quick, and painless to cut power to my devices. As I try to do in my reviews, I'd like to give you a brief profile of my use of this product. It helps with perspective.
Devices connected:
- Custom-built PC with a 460W power supply: AMD Phenom II 555 3.2 GHZ, 4 GB 1600 DDR3, etc.
- Two 19" LCD widescreen monitors
- Xbox 360
- Toaster style HDD dock
- Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers
When are these devices in use?
- Weekdays: 6:30 PM to 11:30 PM
- Weekends: 11 AM to 11:30 PM
- Never in use while I'm sleeping or at work, unless I'm running something on my PC (rare)
I don't know a whole lot about power and electricity, but I'm confident that the PC, Xbox 360, monitors, and speakers likely draw a decent amount of power in standby. The 360 alone would lead me to cut power to it while I'm sleeping or at work.
Using the Belkin Energy Saving Surge Strip has been relatively unproblematic for me. I used the mounting piece to place the wireless switch right next to my light switch so that when I leave for work in the morning or go to sleep at night, I switch it off with my light switch. The switch is roughly 10' from the surge protector in this position, and it successfully switches the device around 99% of the time. I have had two or three occurrences where the switch would not power on/off the surge protector. Being a photographer, I use radio remotes to trigger flashes, and for the price of this unit that's a pretty good hit percentage.
I haven't had many problems with the surge protector itself, since most of my devices don't have huge converters or the like on the plugs. You may have problems with large plugs blocking adjacent outlets. The picture depicting in the unit accurately depicts the outlet spacing, so you can make your judgment based on that.
That's about it. I hope I didn't ramble too much. In summary (with a couple brief additions)...
PROS:
+ Promotes energy-saving behavior by making the surge protector switch accessible
+ Remote has a high success rate triggering the surge protector from 10 feet away
+ Mounting hardware quick and painless, allows remote to be mounted next to other switches
+ Remote switch can be removed from its mount-able "housing"
CONS:
- Not cheap, but it has features to back up the price
- Remote switch is a little big and clunky, must apply a decent amount force to switch it
---
Update: October 17, 2010.
It's been a little over 6 months since I wrote the original writeup of Belkin's Conserve Surge Strip. Nothing much has changed. I did figure out what causes the wireless switch to fail to trigger the power strip. When you press the switch, the piece of plastic that moves will make a clicking sound as it moves into its depressed state. Every now and then, that clicking sound will occur without the plastic actually triggering whatever button is underneath it that sends the signal to turn the strip on or off. To trigger the strip, you just push down on the switch again until it shuts off/on the strip.
Another thing to note: I think I may have broken my Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers using this strip. I had been cutting the speakers' power without shutting them off properly, and I don't think they liked that. The other day, they just stopped working. They turn on and all that but they will not produce sound from any input. I cannot say there's a causal relationship here, but just be careful what type of devices (and the way in which you shut them off) you use with the strip.
Description of Belkin BG108000-04 Conserve Energy-Saving Surge Strip
Don't standby. Conserve. Conserve energy-saving surge protector with remote switch makes it simple to eliminate wasteful standby power, helping you reduce energy consumption, save on energy bills, and lower your overall impact on the environment. Save energy, save money...conveniently. Conserves one-touch remote switch easily powers off up to six (6) devices plugged into its Remote Switched Outlets, while two (2) Always On outlets let you keep devices such as your answering machine or router constantly powered.Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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